National Center for Metabolic Phenotyping in Live Models of Obesity and Diabetes (MPMOD) at UC Davis ABSTRACT—OVERALL SECTION According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than a third of U.S. adults are obese, suffer related complications (e.g., heart disease, stroke, cancer), and cost the US economy more than $150 billion annually. And the facts don’t stop there: recent data from the CDC reveal an increasing incidence of type 2 diabetes, reaching a prevalence of ~11% of the US adult population today. Genetics, environmental factors, food and physical activity behaviors, chronic stress, and coincident high-risk morbidities all point to diabetes and obesity being diseases of heterogenic origin. In this context, advanced research to comprehensively phenotype better mouse models relevant to the human condition is especially needed to fully understand disease pathogenesis and mechanisms to inform strategies for curbing this rising epidemic. Translational research in vivo using genetic, surgical, humanized, and other types of mouse models are needed especially now to characterize disease pathogenesis, mechanisms, and consequences. These models need to be relevant to the pathophysiology of human metabolic disease so as to inform more effective diagnostic, therapeutic, and prevention strategies. To catalyze this effort and accelerate progress toward these goals, UC Davis proposes the creation of a National Center for Metabolic Phenotyping of Mouse Models of Obesity and Diabetes (MPMOD). The Center will provide the diabetes and obesity research communities access to specialized and advanced resources to assess mouse models employing unique, complex, and hard-to-find tests and procedures. MPMOD users will also be connected to competent, experienced, and expert consultation and advice on experimental design, test selection, outcomes measures, and interpretation. The UC Davis MPMOD team has a solid foundation of service to the research community: for the last 10 years, UC Davis served as a flagship in the NIDDK Metabolic Mouse Phenotyping Center (MMPC) Consortium, providing in vivo services on live mice and in vitro analyses on murine tissue and plasma and serum to the greater research community. The MPMOD Center at UC Davis will build from those successes and our strong infrastructure to offer many novel and innovative approaches to tackle new questions in live mice, drawing upon the larger UC Davis scientific enterprise and core labs to provide the research community with high quality metabolic, physiologic, and behavioral phenotyping services in vivo to characterize the heterogeneity, pathogenesis, and consequences of diabetes, obesity, and related metabolic disorders. The MPMOD Center at UC Davis will consist of an Administrative Core providing administrative, service, and business oversight for the Center; an Animal Core that will import and provide husbandry, care, and numerous special services (e.g., SPF husbandry, gnotobiotic mouse manage...